Tag Archives: Stills

The new Laowa 24mm f/14 Probe Lens with included LED lighting at the tip is a really interesting lens for high-speed shooters that would like an edge in their shooting style. The lens looks like a gun barrel but it is really a snake tube-cam-like lens that permits focus at just 2cm from the front element and also shoots at a fairly long distance from the subject.

The Kickstarter campaign project seen here was asking for just $9,999 USD in funding but as of right now with several days to go has reached an extremely impressive $811,113 USD which translates to about 650 lenses to be delivered to backers. The footage that the campaign was able to provide is really amazing at showing what can be achieved when creative minds are able to freely utilize an innovative lens like this.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←

Panasonic seems to be doing a lot of things right lately with their fantastic GH5 with 10 bit recording and 4k 60p for the first time in a mirrorless camera and of course the 180fps Full HD slow motion to boot. The just-announced Lumix G9 is a monster of a camera in its own right but Panasonic is right to segment it as a Stills first and video second machine.

The GH5 is the best video-centric portable camera in recent memory and the aim with the G9 is to go after the Sony a9 which is arguably the best stills camera ever conceived performance wise. The G9 is capable of shooting 60 RAW images in a single burst per second and while the buffer is only 50 RAWs worth; it becomes easily renewed thanks to dual card slots.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←

The just announced Firmware for the Panasonic GH5 offers the promised improvements when the camera was launched like 400Mbps All-I compression for 4k 10 bit recording and or 200MBPS 1080p. Also promised was near 6k Anamorphic shooting and HDR Ready Log Recording Gamma. All of that is in the firmware but the surprise comes from all the extra improvements that made the way into the 2.0 firmware release.

The new unexpected features range from a full tethering option for Mac or PC with free downloadable software to improved autofocus recording which was one of the weakest features of the camera. As far as slow motion related improvements it seems the firmware is not making any headway there. The bitrate improvements do not mention the VFR mode.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←

Olympus is announcing the TG-5 rugged camera which is the replacement for the popular TG-4. It has quite a number of new features and what may be a first for this type of cameras; a sensor pixel density reduction from 16MP to 12MP. A welcomed addition that will ensure better low light quality with a BSI CMOS sensor and speedier data acquisition which lets it output 4k and 120fps 1080p video.

It has also a 720p 240fps mode and a VGA 480fps mode which makes it stand out in the slow motion categories. This camera seems to be aiming at the GoPro Hero 5, Yi 4k+ and Sony Action Camera markets with more features, better usability and the features you expect from a portable camera. It can also be used in drones with some creative placement due to its low weight of 250g with battery!→ Continue Reading Full Post ←

The Panasonic GH5 ushered the era of 10-bit video recording on a portable prosumer interchangeable lens camera for the first time. Panasonic promised some features which at launch would not make the cut but would be added when firmware was released that would improve the spec sheet. The new 1.1 version of the Firmware will enable 10bit recording on 1080p 24p, 25p, 29.98, 29.97p, 59.94p & 50p all at 100 Mbps.

While the camera offered 10 Bit recording at 4k from the get go it was not available above 29.97fps which left the 60fps 4k mode out in the cold for the increased color space. The update and all subsequent ones will also do not allow 10 Bit to be used above 30p in 4k so the 60fps UHD spec will remain at 4:2:0 8 Bit color.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←

The Panasonic GH5 has been the camera darling of early 2017 for video enthusiasts and the addition of 120fps, 150fps and 180fps full HD was one of the most awaited features for the camera. Earlier footage showed a decrease in image quality when using higher frame rates on the camera and the appearance of moire and aliasing was evident. It was still far better than what the GH4s 96fps mode was able to do.

Recent new footage has re-examined the slow motion VFR mode and while there is a drop in quality the 180fps mode is still usable for many applications due to it retaining a lot of detail compared to other cameras. The image is loosing quite a lot of resolution in the vertical so it will not be true full HD when you compare with the up to 60fps mode.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←